Write Great Code, Volume 2, 2nd Edition Cover

Write Great Code, Volume 2, 2nd Edition

Thinking Low-Level, Writing High-Level
by Randall Hyde
August 2020, 656 pp.
ISBN-13: 
9781718500389

Look Inside!

WGC_v2-2edWriteGreatCode_v2-2edWriteGreatCode_v2-2edWriteGreatCode_v2-2edWriteGreatCode_v2-2edWriteGreatCode_v2-2edWrite Great Code 2

Download Chapter 2: SHOULDN’T YOU LEARN ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE?


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GET BETTER RESULTS FROM YOUR SOURCE CODE

NO PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE REQUIRED!

Today’s programming languages offer productivity and portability, but also make it easy to write sloppy code that isn’t optimized for a compiler. Thinking Low-Level, Writing High-Level will teach you to craft source code that results in good machine code once it’s run through a compiler.

You'll learn:

  • How to analyze the output of a compiler to verify that your code generates good machine code
  • The types of machine code statements that compilers generate for common control structures, so you can choose the best statements when writing HLL code
  • Enough assembly language to read compiler output
  • How compilers convert various constant and variable objects into machine data

With an understanding of how compilers work, you’ll be able to write source code that they can translate into elegant machine code.

NEW TO THIS EDITION, COVERAGE OF:

  • Programming languages like Swift and Java
  • Code generation on modern 64-bit CPUs
  • ARM processors on mobile phones and tablets
  • Stack-based architectures like the Java Virtual Machine
  • Modern language systems like the Microsoft Common Language Runtime
Author Bio 

Randall Hyde is the author of The Art of Assembly Language, one of the most highly recommended resources on assembly, and the three volume Write Great Code series (all No Starch Press). He is also the co-author of The Waite Group's MASM 6.0 Bible. He has written for Dr. Dobb’s Journal, Byte, as well as professional journals.

Table of contents 

Introduction

Chapter 1: Thinking Low-Level, Writing High-Level
Chapter 2: Shouldn’t You Learn Assembly Language?
Chapter 3: 80x86 Assembly for the HLL Programmer
Chapter 4: Compiler Operation and Code Generation
Chapter 5: Tools for Analyzing Compiler Output
Chapter 6: Constants and High-Level Languages
Chapter 7: Variables in a High-Level Language
Chapter 8: Array Data Types
Chapter 9:Pointer Data Types
Chapter 10: String Data Types
Chapter 11: Record, Union, and Class Data Types
Chapter 12: Arithmetic and Logical Expressions
Chapter 13: Control Structures and Programmatic Decisions
Chapter 14: Iterative Control Structures
Chapter 15: Functions and Procedures

Afterword: Engineering Software
Glossary
Appendices

Reviews 

Praise for the first edition of Write Great Code, Volume 2:

"Set aside some money and buy this book, or get a friend to buy it and get it from them while still in the store. When you get home, read it TWICE so that you master what is in these pages. Then read it again."
—DevCity

"Write Great Code Volume 2 exceeds its goal of helping developers pay more attention to application performance when writing applications in high-level languages. This book is a must for any high-level application developer.
—Free Software Magazine

"As a high-level-language programmer, if you want to know what's really going on with your programs, you need to spend a little time learning assembly language—and you won't find an easier introduction."
—DevX

"This is a good book. A very very good book. Frankly, I'm blown away at the quality of writing."
—Toronto Ruby User Group

Extra Stuff